'Big man with big ideas' earns award for Village work

Tuesday

NEW YORK — David Baker came to Canton and began to build an $800 million village.

But Baker, the president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, tends to downplay his participation in a project that has garnered national attention — and now acclaim.

He explains that plans for a hotel already were in the works, and he thought, if there's a hotel, maybe there could be a conference center. And if there's a conference center, maybe there could be youth fields. And if kids and their families are coming for the youth fields, maybe there should be some restaurants.

"It just kind of grew and grew and grew," Baker said. "And it wasn't just my vision, it was a lot of people's vision."

Baker on Tuesday received the Sports Leadership Award at the March of Dimes 34th Annual Sports Luncheon in New York City, in part because of his work shepherding Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village. The award recognizes a leader in the sports industry whose vision brings major change to his or her organization.

A video introducing Baker to a room filled with professional athletes and sports broadcasters showed renderings of the Village and photos of the dedication of Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium and featured a voice-over of Baker reading the Hall's mission statement.

When Baker lived in New York, he served on the sports luncheon committee, and he sat in the audience and watched the leadership award be given to commissioners of Major League Baseball or the NBA.

"These are guys that head up billion-dollar organizations, multi-billion dollar organizations, so my first response was a little bit of not only humility but a little bit of shock," Baker told The Canton Repository. "My next one, to be honest, was a real sense of pride for what we're doing."

In his speech Tuesday, he thanked the Hall's staff and board and his wife, Colleen, who encouraged him to take the job.

He also thanked the sports professionals in the room for their positive, can-do attitudes.

"Come to Canton," he said. "We're doing it there."

Baker received this year's leadership award because of the success he has seen in his nearly four years at the helm of the Hall.

He arrived in Canton in January of 2014 with a resume that included a law degree and jobs as a professional basketball player, city councilman and mayor, commissioner of the Arena Football League and managing partner in a billion-dollar integrated health care village in Nevada.

Conversations about rebuilding the former Fawcett Stadium, and possibly adding a hotel to the Hall's campus, predated Baker and were unveiled when he had been on the job about two weeks.

What Baker did was raise the idea the private sector might be interested in the expansion project, similar to the multi-use development project he had left in Nevada.

By July of the same year, Baker had put plans to rebuild Fawcett Stadium on hold because he wanted to see how the stadium could be part of a larger vision for the Hall. He already had started talking about attracting the NFL Draft to Canton in 2019 for the league's 100th season.

Since then, work has begun on what is now a 10-component, $800 million Village. Developers signed Ohio's most expensive sports naming rights agreement with building-efficiency company Johnson Controls, which is No. 70 on the Fortune 500. A rebuilt, renamed Benson Stadium opened this summer. The Hall, in partnership with the Cleveland Browns and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, has applied to host all or part of the NFL Draft in 2019 or 2020 at the Village.

Baker describes his role in the project as leading and pitching in wherever he can.

"This game that we honor is a pretty good template for how to proceed on just about anything," he said. "How do I bring other people to the team? How do I encourage other people? How do I help other people get up when we get knocked down? How do I rally people when there's a fumble or an interception? How do you keep people inspired, and how do you stay inspired yourself?"

Dennis Saunier, president and CEO of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, attended Tuesday's luncheon in New York City.

"I think David's arrival and his vision for the Hall of Fame and his personality — he's extremely personable — just really lifted the entire community," he said. "... Someone like David comes along maybe once in a lifetime, maybe once in a career."

Baker's work with the Village is his most visible contribution to Canton and the Hall, but during his tenure, he also has increased the national programming the museum offers and has bolstered the nonprofit organization financially.

The Hall this fall announced its #HuddleUpAmerica campaign, a multiyear partnership with the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality that will include town halls across the country where people can discuss the issues that matter to them. During the summer, the Hall hosted its second annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Academy series for the nation's top youth athletes. Last year, Centene Corp. and the Hall teamed up to bring health education to youth through free summits.

After Baker's first year with the Hall, grants and contributions tripled from what they historically had totaled, tax-exempt documents show. The Hall's net assets have steadily increased since 2013.

Sean McManus, chair of Tuesday's luncheon and chairman of CBS Sports, said in a statement emailed to the Repository that Baker has taken "an iconic institution" and turned it "into something even more special."

"On top of it all, David is an exceptional person who has inspired countless people in many fields of endeavor and is deeply committed to charitable efforts," the statement read. "He embodies all of the qualities and values that the March of Dimes looks for in an honoree."

After his first enshrinement weekend as head of the Hall, Baker and his senior management team announced a new mission statement, which today reads: "Honor the heroes of the game, preserve its history, promote its values, celebrate excellence everywhere."

The values the game stands for are what excite Baker most. Football is about discipline and diligence and commitment and love, he says, and the values that make a person a great football player also make a person a great parent or spouse or employee.

Some nights, he's the last one to leave the Hall. Near his office, at the entrance of the gallery of busts, is a television that plays enshrinement speeches on a loop. So at 11:30 p.m., Baker will sit on one of the benches — he jokes the one idea he will take credit for is the benches — and he'll listen to Gold Jackets talk about the people who inspired them and the lessons football taught them.

The men the Hall honors embody excellence. Canton stands for excellence.

And that's what Baker banked on when he took the job.

"I thought I was going to a place for excellence," he said. "I also thought I was going to a place right from the start where the 100th anniversary of the league would play a big role in reuniting the league and all the guys who built it and maybe reuniting America."

Alison Matas is a staff reporter with The Canton Repository.

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